Vegan and creamy? Sounds like an oxymoron right? The secret to the creaminess is "silken tofu". It's pureed and mixed with regular pasta sauce and is topped over the pasta and steamed vegetables.
This recipe is from the book Vegetarian Times Fast and Easy. I had copied it a long time back. As soon as I came to know about Vaishali's It's a Vegan World - Italian event, this dish came to my mind.
Those who have not tasted tofu before or having doubts about how it would taste in a sauce, you can take my word on this one. I'm very sure that you will love this sauce and pasta dish. The sauce tastes nothing like tofu. You will not get any weird smell or funny aftertaste.
Even my son who generally eats plain cooked pasta, did not mind the sauce this time. Now he has two favorite pasta sauces, the beet sauce and this one. For the best sauce I had used ricotta cheese to get the creaminess, but this one tasted as good as the beet sauce. We also did not miss the white pasta. I think the sauce even made the whole wheat penne to taste better.
Unused portion of tofu has to be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and should be used within 2-3 days. Don't know what to do with the balance tofu? Check out here for other silken tofu recipes.
Recipe
Vegan Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Uncooked Whole Wheat Penne
- 4 cups Broccoli
- ½ cup Silken Tofu
- 1 and ½ cup Pasta Sauce (I used Preggos Heart Smart Italian Sauce)
- As Per Taste Salt
- To Taste Ground pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta as per package directions. Drain pasta, reserving ½-3/4 cup cooking water.
- Steam broccoli until tender, about 6-7 minutes.
- Puree the tofu in a food processor or blender, until smooth.
- In a medium saucepan combine tofu, pasta sauce and enough reserved pasta water to create a creamy sauce. Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Do not boil.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Transfer pasta to serving bowl; add broccoli, and toss to mix.
- Top with sauce, and serve.
My Notes
- I did not measure the servings exactly, but I'm sure it is enough to feed at least 3 adults.
- The original recipe had ½ cup chopped black olives. If you want to use it, you should add it to the sauce while it's heating.
- If you are able to find reduced-fat firm silken tofu use it, because that was mentioned in the original recipe. I didn't get it, so I have used Mori Nu's regular silken tofu.
- My son loves broccoli, so there was almost nothing left for the pasta when we sat down to eat. I had a pack of frozen Italian vegetables (broccoli, carrots and cauliflower). So I steamed it and tossed it with the pasta. That was good too.
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Ben says
Outstanding recipe. Make sure the tofu is really smooth first. I had to redo. I found the tofu at Krogers. The author is correct. You need more broccoli than you think.
Madhuram says
Thanks Ben.
Sai says
Hello Madam
I am your fan for a long time. I tried the pasta with pesto
sauce and tofu..Italian vegetables.oh delicious.. thank you so much.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Sai.
tanya says
i wanna try this recipe but its hard to find tofu in delhi here .. is there any substitute for it? in fact in a lot of recipes i see tofu .. is there any substitute ?
Madhuram says
I think Tofu is pretty easily available these days. You may have to try some specialty or big chain of grocery stores. For this recipe you may use cream instead of tofu.
Faith says
I don't have silken tofu or regular tofu at home. What can this be substituted with? I am vegetarian... not vegan.
Madhuram says
You can try pureeing ricotta cheese, like I did it in this beet pasta recipe.
http://www.egglesscooking.com/2008/12/17/beet-recipe-pink-sauce-pasta/
meghna says
Can the extra firm / firm tofu be blended along with water to achieve the same creamy effect or is silken the recommended one? Thanks.
Meghna, I guess you have to try it for yourself to see if it works because I have not done that and hence unable to comment.
Mansi says
This sounds wonderful..what an idea..I generally don't put cheese in my pasta because of the fat content, thanks to your recipe, now I can try Tofu to give a creamt texture.
Jasmine says
All righty then!!! I'm making it right now for lunch, and I'm gonna be tasting tofu for the first time. I love pasta so much. It was really hard to find a recipe using silken, most use firm/extra-firm. BIG THANKS!!!
You're welcome Jasmine. Hope you like it.
Jasmine says
no water needed to blend it?
No water. Silken tofu is really very soft it will blend very easily. If you are having any problem with your blender just add a few drops of water.
Jasmine says
Hello,
I'm new to using all kinds of tofu, so I bought the silken tofu (which is the only one I found). I want to try this but I don't know how to make pureed tofu. Can you explain in details?
Thanks
Hi Jasmine, thank you for your interest in this recipe. Simply add 1/2-1 cup of tofu in a blender/food processor and blend it until it becomes smooth and creamy.
Maya says
Nice creamy looking pasta! Never tried it this way before, sure looks yummy.
Thanks Maya.
Sunshinemom says
Silken tofu has really paved a new way of cooking for me, and your vegan pasta looks absolutely yummy! No wonder your son loved it!
Yes, it's definitely a blessing for health conscious people.
Soma says
Every time I come here I have a wonderful surprise. Really cool idea to make the vegan cream!!
Nithya says
Wow,healthy creamy sauce.Very tempting.I love pasta,wonderful.
Uma says
the creamy sauce looks so good! I love pasta of any kind. So I am grabbing that yummy bowl of pasta. 😀
Sure Uma, grab it all you can.
pigpigscorner says
Healthy creamy sauce! Yum yum! I will try to use more silken tofu in my cooking from now!
You should give it a try. It's very good, without the calories, fat and cholesterol of dairy cream.
Cham says
The color and creamy sauce without guilty feeling is to die for Madhu 😛
Priya says
Very creative..looks too creamy n delicious...
Vaishali says
This is pure genius, Madhuram. Love the creamy pasta sauce and that color is to die for. I totally agree that tofu is a great cream substitute: you get the perfect texture without the bad fats and calories, and with good protein to boot.
Thanks for sending this lovely, lovely dish to IAVW: Italian.
You're welcome Vaishali. This is my first try using tofu this way and I love it.
Usha says
Looks creamy and yum !